Dodgers plan ‘upgrades, renovations and additions’ to stadium before 2020 All-Star Game

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Dodgers president and CEO Stan Kasten, left, and Major League Baseball commissioner Rob Manfred announce that Dodger Stadium will host the 2020 All-Star Game – the venue’s first since 1980 0- during a news conference on Wednesday afternoon at Dodger Stadium. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)

From left, Dodgers pitcher Kenley Jansen, third baseman Justin Turner, Los Angeles Councilman Gil Cedillo, MLB commissioner Rob Manfred, Dodgers president and CEO Stan Kasten, and manager Dave Roberts pose for a photo, after announcing that Dodger Stadium will host the All-Star Game in 2020 for the first time since 1980 at a news conference in Los Angeles Wednesday, April 11, 2018. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)

Dodgers president and CEO Stan Kasten, left, and MLB commissioner Rob Manfred announce that Dodger Stadium will host the All-Star Game in 2020 for the first time since 1980 at a news conference in Los Angeles Wednesday, April 11, 2018. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)

MLB commissioner Rob Manfred, left, and Dodgers president and CEO Stan Kasten exchange a Dodgers’ hat, after announcing that Dodger Stadium will host the All-Star Game in 2020 for the first time since 1980 at a news conference in Los Angeles Wednesday, April 11, 2018. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)

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Dodgers third baseman Justin Turner, left, and pitcher Kenley Jansen comment on Dodger Stadium hosting the All-Star Game in 2020 for the first time since 1980 at a news conference in Los Angeles Wednesday, April 11, 2018. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)

Dodgers president and CEO Stan Kasten, left, and MLB commissioner Rob Manfred announce that Dodger Stadium will host the All-Star Game in 2020 for the first time since 1980 at a news conference in Los Angeles Wednesday, April 11, 2018. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)

Dodgers third baseman Justin Turner, at podium, speaks after Los Angeles President and CEO Stan Kasten, third from ring, and Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred second from right, announced that Dodger Stadium will host the All-Star Game in 2020 for the first time since 1980 at a news conference in Los Angeles Wednesday, April 11, 2018. At right, Alanna Rizzo. Sitting left to right, Dodgers pitcher Kenley Jansen, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts and Los Angeles Councilman Gil Cedillo. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)

Dodgers president and CEO Stan Kasten, left, and MLB commissioner Rob Manfred announce that Dodger Stadium will host the All-Star Game in 2020 for the first time since 1980 at a news conference in Los Angeles Wednesday, April 11, 2018. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)

LOS ANGELES — The last time the Dodgers hosted Major League Baseball’s All-Star Game they unveiled DiamondVision – a state-of-the-art, first-of-its-kind video screen perched above the left-field pavilion.

The Dodgers will be hard-pressed to match the game-changing nature of that 1980 stadium innovation. But Dodgers president and CEO Stan Kasten said the team is planning its “next set of upgrades, renovations and additions to Dodger Stadium” in advance of the All-Star Game returning to Dodger Stadium 40 years later.

“The next two years will be very active for us,” Kasten said Wednesday afternoon at Dodger Stadium where MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred officially announced the awarding of the 2020 All-Star Game to the Dodgers.

“Obviously we will be sending a team this year to Washington (for the All-Star Game) and a team next year to Cleveland to examine how they’re doing things. But we’re Los Angeles. We know how to throw parties. We know how to host big events. And you can bet the party here in two years will be extraordinary and we have already begun planning.”

Kasten would not reveal any specifics about what upgrades might be coming to Dodger Stadium, saying he doesn’t have “the full plan yet.” In recent years, the Guggenheim ownership group has spent more than $150 million on upgrades and renovations to the 56-year-old facility (the third-oldest stadium in MLB behind Fenway Park and Wrigley Field).

That investment was a factor in the Dodgers finally being awarded the All-Star Game, Manfred acknowledged.

“I can only take responsibility for the last three years. Before that was on someone else,” Manfred joked when asked about the extended wait between All-Star Games at Dodger Stadium. The game has been played in Southern California four times in the decades since it last came to Los Angeles – twice in Anaheim (1989 and 2010) and twice in San Diego (at Jack Murphy Stadium in 1992 and Petco Park in 2016).

The field of teams hoping to host the game has become “very competitive,” Manfred said. Teams that have built new stadiums or invested heavily in renovations have frequently been rewarded with the game. The Chicago Cubs, currently in the third year of an extensive renovation of venerable Wrigley Field, were also interested in hosting the 2020 game and could be named as hosts for an All-Star Game shortly after the Dodgers.

“We always take into consideration the commitment the ownership group has made to the facility we’re going to use for the All-Star Game,” Manfred said Wednesday. “I was very involved in the sale process when Mark (Walter) and his partners took over the Dodgers. They made an amazing financial commitment to purchase the club ($2.15 billion) and I think that one of the things that really is most impressive is the money that they’ve put into making Dodger Stadium a first-class, modern facility while maintaining its history and tradition.”

Since 1980, though, the All-Star Game has grown into what Manfred called “a four-day celebration of baseball” including the All-Star Futures Game, a celebrity softball game, the Home Run Derby and numerous satellite events. That will require more than Dodger Stadium to host and Kasten praised the cooperation and support of Los Angeles city officials. The massive FanFest event, for example, will be held at the L.A. Convention Center, a major logistical hurdle that had to be cleared.

“There were legitimately conflicts,” Kasten said. “We have a four-day long FanFest. It’s one of the busiest convention centers in America. We also plan a robust program of events throughout the city.”

Ticket prices and distribution for the All-Star Game are handled by MLB and not the host team. Details will not be available for some time. But the Dodgers will make a priority purchase opportunity available to season-ticket holders.

"We’re Los Angeles. We know how to throw a party. We know how to host big events."

Bill Plunkett has covered everything from rodeo to Super Bowls to boxing (yeah, I was there the night Mike Tyson bit Evander Holyfield's ear off) during a career that started far too long ago to mention and eventually brought him to the OC some time last century (1999 actually). He has been covering Major League Baseball for the Orange County Register since 2003, spending time on both the Angels and Dodgers beats.